Cholera hits Pakistan 3 months after floods start

Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC)
26 Oct 2010 Three months after floods began in Pakistan the DEC is extremely concerned that 99 cases of cholera from across the flood-affected areas of the country have now been publically confirmed for the first time. The World Health Organisation has announced today (26.10.10) that it was informed by the Pakistan Ministry of Health on 12 October that laboratory tests had shown there were people affected by the disease in Sindh, Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces. Severe diarrhoea has for some time been the most common health problem facing the more than 20 million people affected by the flooding. A lack of clean drinking water and unsanitary conditions enable cholera and other diarrhoeal diseases to spread extremely rapidly. Disasters Emergency Committee Chief Executive Brendan Gormley said: “The scale and duration of the crisis in Pakistan is staggering. The human impact has in many cases been appalling and aid workers have struggled to support all those affected. “Cholera is endemic in Pakistan but nonetheless the confirmation of these outbreaks across the country is extremely worrying given the continuing vulnerability of so many flood survivors. …